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Supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health Grants 1R21AI080439-01A1 and P01 HD40540 and by a Women's Reproductive Health Research award NICHD, HD-01-264 (to Dr C. Mitchell).

BACKGROUND

Cervical HIV-1 DNA shedding is frequently detected among HIV-1–infected women (26%–86% of specimens)1–3 despite potent suppressive antiretroviral therapy (ART) and may be a contributor to sexual HIV-1 transmission. The mechanisms responsible for HIV-1 DNA shedding are not well understood; elucidation of these mechanisms could be useful for prevention of sexual and perinatal HIV-1 transmission.

We hypothesized that proinflammatory cytokines and coinfections in the female genital tract are associated with cervical HIV-1 DNA shedding. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated associations between vaginal proinflammatory cytokines, ART, vaginal coinfections, and HIV-1 DNA shedding in cervical cytobrush samples from HIV-1–infected women in the United States and in Kenya.

METHODS

Specimens and clinical data were collected during prospective observational studies of HIV-1–infected women in Seattle, WA; Rochester, NY; and Nairobi, Kenya between 2002 and 2009. Study participants were 18–50 years of age, nonpregnant, and had no symptomatic genital infections at study entry. The University of Washington, University of Rochester, and University of Nairobi Institutional Review Boards approved the studies, and all subjects provided written informed consent.

Participants had 3–4 study visits per year over 1–5 years, as described previously.4 HIV-1 RNA from plasma and cervicovaginal lavage (CVL) specimens were quantified by real-time PCR assay.5 HIV-1 DNA was quantified in cervical cytobrush specimens by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the gag region of HIV-1.6 Samples with 1–4 copies of HIV-1 DNA/10 μL extracted DNA were reported as <5 copies/cytobrush. The human betaglobin gene7 was amplified to evaluate the number of cells; samples containing fewer than 100,000 cells were considered inadequate. CVL was tested for interleukins (IL)-1β, -6, -8, and secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) as previously described.8 Urine was collected for Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis detection by nucleic acid amplification (COBAS Amplicor PCR, Roche, Pleasanton, CA). Trichomonas vaginalis was detected by the InPouch culture system (Hardy Diagnostics, Santa Maria, CA); testing for trichomoniasis was not performed routinely in Kenyan women and was excluded from analysis in this group. Genital shedding of herpes simplex virus-1 and -2 and cytomegalovirus (CMV) was evaluated using PCR of CVL.9,10 Bacterial vaginosis (BV) was diagnosed using Nugent criteria.11 Vaginal yeast and Lactobacillus were detected by culture.12 Detection of an infectious agent in <1% of the genital specimens was considered too sparse for further analysis.

Demographic data at enrollment were compared between US and Kenyan women using Student t test and χ2 test. HIV-1 DNA concentrations were grouped for analysis in 4 categories: undetectable, very low (<5 copies/cytobrush), lesser than the median (5–100 copies/cytobrush), and more than the median (>100 copies/cytobrush). We used multinomial logistic regression and linear regression with generalized estimating equations specifying an independent correlation structure and robust standard errors to assess associations between genital tract infections, cytokines, and HIV-1 DNA shedding. Based on substantial differences in several predictors between US and Kenyan women, these 2 cohorts of women were analyzed separately. All analyses were conducted using Stata version 10 (StataCorp, Inc, College Station, TX).

Women with higher plasma viral load and lower CD4+ T-cell count were more likely to have higher quantities of HIV-1 DNA detected in cervical specimens in both US and Kenyan populations (Table 1). In US women, none of the studied genital infections were associated with higher levels of cervical HIV-1 DNA, whereas in Kenyan women yeast vaginitis was positively and cervicitis negatively associated with cervical HIV-1 DNA shedding. BV and abnormal vaginal flora were associated with increased concentrations of IL-1β in both US and Kenyan women, but other associations differed between women from the 2 countries (Table 2). Yeast and BV were more common among US women, whereas cervicitis, CMV, and herpes simplex virus shedding were more common among Kenyan women. Gonorrhea and Chlamydia were present in <1% of samples, thus, were not included in analysis. ART was not associated with HIV-1 DNA shedding in univariate analysis, but when the model was controlled for plasma HIV-1 concentration, US women on ART had a higher risk of shedding. We performed a stratified analysis in this group and found that the increased risk of HIV-1 DNA shedding was largely due to the 42% of women who were on ART but not suppressed (data not shown). Too few Kenyan women were on ART to perform the same analysis.

DISCUSSION

This study of HIV-1 infected Kenyan and US women found higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines in the CVL of Kenyan compared with US HIV-1–infected women. Kenyan women had higher rates of some genital infections, such as cervicitis and CMV, but US women were more likely to have yeast. Differences in cytokines persisted after controlling for genital infections, suggesting a larger difference in immune milieu between US and Kenyan women. Cohen et al13 found that HIV-1–uninfected Kenyan adolescents had a higher number of activated CD4+ T cells in the genital tract than American adolescents even after controlling for genital infections. The genital inflammation in these Kenyan populations may stem from systemic infections with parasites, malaria, or TB, from vaginal washing practices, or from unmeasured genital tract infections.

In the US cohort, women with the highest quantities of cervical HIV-1 DNA had higher genital IL-1β and IL-6 concentrations compared with women with no HIV-1 DNA detected. Both cytokines are common to many immune response pathways in the innate and adaptive immune response, thus, may implicate activation of any of several pathways and do not point to a specific mechanistic connection.14–16 Interestingly, no genital infections were positively associated with the highest levels of HIV-1 DNA in either population. Together, these results suggest that there is not a direct causal pathway between the genital infections we studied, these classic proinflammatory cytokines, and HIV-1 DNA genital shedding. The stimuli for HIV-1 DNA genital shedding may be from infections that were not measured in this cohort, from systemic factors, or from noninfectious local stimuli.

An association between genital infections and cytokine concentrations in genital secretions has been reported across multiple studies, although the cytokines and infections studied have varied. Across studies, BV is associated with IL-1β in both US17,18 and Kenyan19 women, but few reports have examined IL-1β and other infections. IL-6 seems to have little relationship with any genital infection,17,20–22 whereas increased IL-8 has been associated with trichomoniasis,23 cervicitis,24 and yeast25 in many but not all17,25 studies. Few of these studies enrolled African women, thus, we are unable to assess whether the differences we observed in associations between US and Kenyan women are an anomaly or reflect regional differences. Even fewer studies have assessed the link between genital infections and genital tract HIV-1 DNA; one showed no association between yeast vulvovaginitis and cervical HIV-1 DNA detection,2 whereas a Kenyan study found an association with mucopurulent cervical discharge, but did not assess specific pathogens.26

HIV-infected cells may pose a risk for sexual transmission,27 similar to the association between HIV-1 DNA in blood and breast milk and mother-to-child transmission.28 Plasma HIV-1 RNA concentration is the factor most commonly associated with detection of HIV-1 DNA in cervicovaginal secretions.2,29,30 Although previous studies have reported lower rates of HIV-1 DNA shedding in women on ART31–33 compared with those who are not,1,10,30 detection of HIV-1 DNA is much more common than HIV-1 RNA when women have a suppressed plasma viral load.5 In this study, US women on ART but not suppressed in the plasma had a higher risk of HIV-1 DNA shedding than women not on ART. This is likely because, in our US cohort, women on ART were likely to be sicker (as evidenced by the low rate of plasma viral suppression), creating a more inflammatory environment.

Our study only assessed cervical HIV-1 DNA shedding and not detection in vaginal secretions. Other investigators have found a higher prevalence of HIV-1 DNA shedding in cervical compared with vaginal samples.26 Our evaluation of cervical cytobrush samples detected HIV-1 DNA at higher rates than studies which have used cervical Dacron swabs or cervicovaginal lavage1,29,30 but similar to rates reported by another study using cytobrush samples.3 This is likely because the cytobrush picks up more cellular material than swabs or lavage. However, our cytokine measurements were made on CVL fluid, an indirect reflection of cervical inflammation. Our participants contributed visits both on and off ART, and with and without virologic suppression, which increases the heterogeneity of the data and may mask differences in determinants of genital shedding.